The winner for our essay contest: “How will your education benefit the District of Kau?”

Leaokalani Hashimoto

Great Teachers Make Great Leaders

Great teachers are the unsung heroes of the world. They play an important and difficult role in our society. Many of us can recall a teacher who has influenced the course of our life, however; quality teachers are becoming harder to find and keep here in Hawaii. I want to become an elementary school teacher so I can help fill the need for qualified teachers and inspire the youth of Kau.

The ancient African proverb says “It takes a village to raise a child” but what has happened to our “village”? According to Hawaii News Now, DOE officials expect as many as 1,600 vacancies throughout the state next school year. Corey Rosenlee, president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, shared that “Hawaii has the highest turnover rates in the nation, and this is more so for people that come from the mainland.” Corey added that recruiting teachers from the mainland is an ongoing cycle. That is the reason why I am studying to become a Hawaii elementary school teacher.

Teachers who are recruited from the mainland are often placed in rural schools, like Naalehu Elementary and Kau High School. New teachers are often surprised by Kau’s unique, rural lifestyle as well as the state’s high cost of living. I was raised in Kau and attended Naalehu Elementary school and graduated from Kau High. As a native, I can relate to and understand the racial and cultural background of our youth. I live in Waiohinu and hope to teach at Naalehu Elementary, one of Hawaii’s public schools that needs qualified teachers. I want to use the knowledge I have acquired to inspire students of Naalehu Elementary and Intermediate School and help them identify their strengths and reach their full potential. I want to create a great classroom for students to learn, feel successful, and achieve.

I am grateful to say that I am the product of great teachers, including my parents who successfully fulfilled their role as my first teacher. I am passionate about education because of the time and energy these wonderful teachers invested in me. They helped me acquire the skills, knowledge, and expertise needed for success in college, career, and life. Great teachers do not receive a high salary or get praised daily for their contribution, however, they enjoy what they do and are passionate about education. Great teachers are sustained daily by the outstanding opportunity to change a student’s life. I hope to be as great as the teachers who have inspired me.

The Ken Wicks Kau Chamber of Commerce Scholarship will help me achieve my educational goals with minimal impact on my family. My academic studies are a major part of my professional development, but like many things, it comes with a price. I am a mother and my family is my number one priority. Balancing academic with family life is always a challenge. This scholarship will alleviate some of the financial burden that my ongoing studies have placed on my family, allowing me to concentrate on my education.

Thomas King won best of show, and Reta Hill won people’s choice with her quilt, Sunny Beaches. Reta’s quilt will appear on the cover of The Directory 2017. We had a tie for people’s choice, with Lee McIntosh taking second place with his photograph, Lamp Posts of Kau.

First place winners:
C.S. Tucker in the crafts division
Ann Bosted in the photo division
Olivia Ling in the sculpture division
Thomas King in the wood division
Reta Hill in the quilt division
Nancy Stafford in the jewelry division
Eric DePeralta in the lei division
Susan Jennings in the graphics division
Lynn VanLeeuwen in the painting division
Alan Stafford in the weaving division
Dion Beavins in the youth division
Charlotte Crysdale in the keiki division

Second place winners:
Betty Clark in the photo division
Don Elwing in the sculpture division
Susan Jennings in the wood division
Kaaren Hughes in the quilt division
Jennifer Kampf in the graphics division
Masako Sakata in the painting division

Third place winners:
Don Elwing in the wood division
Kiko Johnston-Kitazawa in the photo division
Alice Hosticka in the quilt division
Peter & Ann Bosted in the graphics division
Alice Hosticka in the painting division

Suzanne D. Kaliko won best of show with her painting, Aunty Shows her Quilt, and Peter Anderson won people’s choice with his photo, Red Caldera. Peter’s photo will appear on the cover of The Directory 2016.

First place winners:
Peter Anderson in the photo division
Susan Condie Jennings in the sculpture division
Thomas King in the wood division
Teri Jensen Phillips in the quilt division
Ann Snow in the jewelry division
Elizabeth Kuluwaimaka in the lei division
Dave Golston in the graphics division
Suzanne D. Kaliko in the painting division
Jeanette Howard in the weaving division
Grace Smith in the youth division
Audrey Meyer in the keiki division

Second place winners:
Ed Bruneau in the photo division
Scott Manley in the sculpture division
Dave Golston in the wood division
Nadine Ebert in the quilt division
Toni Santana in the jewelry division
Nancy Lake in the graphics division
Lynn Van Leeuwen in the painting division
LoriLee Loren in the youth division
Kamali Compehos in the keiki division

Third place winners:
Lee McIntosh in the photo division
Dave Golston in the sculpture division
Alice Hosticka in the quilt division
Kathie Griffeth in the jewelry division
Marla McCasand in the graphics division
Tanya Ibarra in the painting division
Nalu Compehos in the keiki division

The winner for our essay contest: “How will your education benefit the District of Kau?”

Gregory K. Javar Jr.

Local Lands in Local Hands

“Aole TMT! Aole TMT!” These are the chants of Native Hawaiians speaking from their hearts to stop production on our sacred Mauna Kea. The preservation of our Hawaiian lands plays such an important role in the Hawaiian culture, while advancing technology plays an important role in the science world. There seems to be no peaceful solution to these rising conflicts. Why can’t the native people and the scientists find peace? Different mindsets. In the Hawaiian culture, the people know the significance in the Mauna and see it as a sacred and holy place. While on the scientific end the Mauna is just as equally significant, only for a different reason, scientific discovery. The mountain reveals that there are two different sides, the cultural and the scientific. Although there are many scientists who try to preserve the Hawaiian culture, I believe there is not enough. This is part of the reason why I am pursuing my goal in becoming a civil engineer.

Pursuing my engineering career would not only benefit the technological world, it would also benefit my Hawaiian culture. My future plan is to move back to Ka’u and work as an engineer on the Big Island. If I am back on the big island I’d be able to be a bridge or a mediator between conflicting sides. I would be able to tailor the projects so that they would be advanced in a modern way without interfering with Hawaiian culture. I feel like that is very important in this day and age because of the rapid growth of industry and modernization. With the current issue of Mauna Kea going on, I feel like Hawaiian engineers should work on ways to prevent future conflicts. As a native of Ka’u I feel like it is my Kuleana to “keep country, country” and at the same time keep us intact with the modern world.

Growing up in Ka’u, kids learn many values that many other kids do not have the privilege to learn. I’ve been to a lot of places and have seen the lifestyle and can honestly say that Ka’u is one of a kind. Our keiki learn respect, values, and learn that if you take care of the land, the land will take care of you. That’s what’s special about our district, we all are one with our land, and as locals we do what we can to protect it. As a future engineer, I see this as a great opportunity to make a long lasting impression. For our people, for Ka’u.

The winner for our essay contest: “How will your education benefit the District of Kau?”

Tiare-Lee Shibuya

Smile in The Face of Fear

I could smell hand sanitizer and a minced smell of coffee. The air was very still with a musty fringe. This was definitely in a hospital and I was in the waiting room. As I look around I see many faces of despair, sorrow, and wariness. I sit patiently awaiting the news of my grandfather with a serious concerned face. I have contemplated over and over in my mind of what the different scenarios could be, but I didn’t see this one coming. My grandfather Clarence Abraham Andrade has just been diagnosed with lung cancer said to be the size of an orange. I was completely speechless and my tear ducts filled.

Cautiously, we make sure to smile and show no concern of death in our faces as I greet my grandfather in the hospital bed. My family and I sat listening to his minimal options he had and watch as he decides what he wants to do. He decides that life is not over for him yet and he wants to fight this cancer away. So in a span of two years, he fought his hardest with all his might and never complained of any pain. We all right there standing next to him every step of the way. We would take him to his radiation chemo therapy and he would be the guy making jokes about the chemo not affecting his hair because he was already bald. This is the exact moment where I knew exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it and where I wanted to do it.

Consequently, my goal was to always be a Registered Nurse and graduate with my BSN degree. Now, I can say I want to be an Oncology RN and eventually expand the Ka’u Hospital branch to have its own oncology department. Just take a second and think of all the possibilities and the many lives that can be saved. According to the Cancer Journal for Clinicians in 2014 there have been 1,340,400 deaths from cancer this year and we are only in April. I could help so many families in the district I love called Ka’u. It would be the only way I feel accomplished by having and supporting the district’s needs health wise.

Similarly, I would be able to relate to the patients on a deeper level because I have been there. I have not personally experienced cancer but I have been a family member to experience it four times. My grandfather had lung cancer and his wife had a tumor in her breast. My other grandparents my grandfather had kidney cancer and my grandmother had colon cancer. I know that the family would want the best available help and I would be right there by their side coaching them on what to expect but also keeping that hope alive because a cancer patient wants their family and to be loved during this tragic time.

Finally, I would like to be a registered nurse and help my community have the strongest oncology system it could have. There are many lives to be saved and I feel that I was set here to help cancer patients. I will provide the best service and a caring support system. I would like to bring smiles in the face of fear for all those people. It would be such an honor to devote myself to my community and to keep everyone healthy.

Ric Start won best of show with his quilt, He Kila Mo‘i, and Suzanne D. Kaliko won people’s choice with her painting, Green Sand Beach. Suzanne’s painting will appear on the cover of The Directory 2015. We had a tie for people’s choice, with Peter Anderson taking second place with his photograph, South Point Blowhole.

First place winners:
DeeDee Bodine in the graphics division
Peter Anderson in the photo division
Bob Knapp in the sculpture division
Bob Knapp in the craft division
Bob Stock in the wood division
Ric Stark in the quilt division
Deon Beavins in the keiki division

Second place winners:
Wanda Aus in the graphics division
Luke Kanahele in the photo division
Aubrey Ahl in the sculpture division
Luke Kanahele in the craft division
Patty Bowles in the quilt division
Victoria Kanahele in the keiki division

Third place winners:
Greg Rush in the graphics division
Gen Galletta in the photo division
Seth Kanahele in the craft division
Ryder Brown in the keiki division